The Arizona House Education committee passed a four-year phase in of universal public school eligibility for the Empowerment Scholarship Account program, and a separate measure aimed at improving the administration of the program. Jonathan Butcher, Jason Bedrick and Sydney Hay all provided insightful testimony, as did a number of current ESA students and parents. One of the supporters of the bill noted in committee testimony last night that each expansion of choice in Arizona has been preceded by dire predictions of doom, but that in fact Arizona public school outcomes have improved rather than worsened. Quite right:

Arizona students have been leading NAEP cohort gains since 2009. The only two obvious things that stand out about Arizona K-12 in my mind have been larger than average budget cuts brought on my the Great Recession and parental choice. Arizona did change over academic standards during this period, but the national analysis of Hanushek and Loveless leads one with the unmistakable conclusion that this change had at most a modest amount to do with the improvement, likely less than that. I haven’t yet heard a plausible link between budget cuts and improving academic outcomes. In my book this leaves choice as, well:

Opponents recited their litany against draining money from the public schools, noted teacher shortages, etc. A “student surplus” however is another way to express a teacher shortage. Arizona school districts simply cannot hire enough teachers to serve their current level of enrollment, and it is worth noting that things would have been far more dire without the advent of choice in 1994. Without out the advent of charter schools in 1994 and private school choice in 1997, it is not clear just how the districts would have managed to cope with an enrollment increase far larger than moving from 737k to 914k between 1994 and 2012 (see figure above).

District supporters don’t like to admit that they need help in coping with enrollment growth- they’ve got it all covered, allegedly. Hmmm…

Arizonans have been rewarded for their embrace of pluralism in education thus far. Let’s see what happens next.

Great work by Lindsey Burke and Brittany Corona of the Heritage Foundation and (most of all) from our Arizona ESA parents and students in making their case. Take special note of ESA parent Marc Ashton’s description of how he was able to get the his son educated in one of the very highest regarded schools in Arizona (Brophy Prep) and purchase Braille books and still save some money for college all on 90% of what the state would have provided a public school for his son’s education.

Marc Ashton’s comments reveal the opportunity cost of poorly utilized funds in public education. Mind you, districts have been complaining non-stop for decades that they don’t receive enough state and federal dollars for students like Max Ashton. Special education is a terrible financial burden, requiring them to transfer their locally generated dollars out of general education and into special education. Lo and behold, the Ashton’s have taken 90% of the state funding and got an education for their son that they are wildly enthused about, bought needed educational supplies, and saved some money for Max to attend college. Hmmm, how can describe this? Maybe: